I’m still reeling a bit from the fact that Lee Sin is real, but that hasn’t stopped me from playing a few games with him. On the whole, I think he’s a much more balanced release than Nocturne, and that makes him feel a little lackluster.

For the most part, I like Lee Sin’s kit. He has a lot of mobility and his W and E are both strong enough skills that he has some build flexibility. If you’re in a heavy harass lane, level the shield before the slow, and vice versa. I do tend to get one rank of each before level six, just for the utility. Dashing to a minion with his shield has saved my ass more than once. In almost all cases, though, it seems best to rank Sonic Wave first.

One of my biggest problems with Lee Sin is his ultimate. The damage scales really well, but with all of the dashes in the game it can be nearly impossible to send the target where you want. One wrong step and suddenly they’re flying out of range. It’s often best used as a finisher, which kind of negates the kick functionality. I would love to see this get some kind of redesign, even if it was just to make a dead player fly through enemies just as a live player would. That would make the kick slightly more tactical.

The energy system is also a source of frustration for Lee Sin, if only because his cooldowns feel pretty short. I never feel like I’m waiting on abilities, just on the energy to use them. Granted, his passive is supposed to help with that, and it does to an extent. Still, it’s frustrating to look down and see 2 abilities grayed out and just wait for more energy.

I will say, I’ve seen a lot of people who feel the opposite about the character. Some players are in love with him, so my malaise could be related to flavor more than balance. As I write that, it feels more true than the balance issue – I do think there are some changes that would make him more fun/interesting, but at the end of the day I think I’ve seen one too many dashy melee characters. More. Flavor. Please.